Kissing the Groom
by x A Lonely Heart Needs Love x
Summary: Gibbs ruins Ziva's 'perfect' wedding. And DiNozzo is all to blame for it.


NCIS

In Denial

[Just something to get over my writer's block. Don't hate me for it. Please]

Xx

I was so entirely excited that my fingers were trembling as I adjusted the lacing behind my dress and tried to smile. The feeling was overwhelming indeed.

"The dress looks amazing", Abby proclaimed with glee, her eyes lighting up as she stood behind me trying to do something with my hair. "You look gorgeous!"

Taking a deep breath I held it, in then let it out slowly trying to clear my mind. So this was it. This was the big day I had been anticipating all my life. The time when I'd get into this dress, into those heels, walk down that aisle and then meet him at the altar in smiles. I'd take my father's arm, treasure the moment of him actually being by my side and take that next step in my life, a step I had been willing to take a while ago.

Abby took a small amount of my hair and began to twirl it around her finger, then clipped it up unto my ponytail using a white flower clip. Even before she did it I knew she would and I smiled deeply, savoring her hug as she wrapped her arms around me and squeezed.

"Mrs. DiNozzo…"

"Not just yet", I said smiling and I entwined my fingers with hers, "there are the vows. And he should have been preparing his well before time."

I just hoped that Tony hadn't written anything about my father's lack of commitment to me in anything. Since Eli had returned for my wedding, the two of them had barely exchanged two words with each other in every meeting. And the glares that passed between them were astoundingly long and filled with deep consideration and scrutiny. For the world I hoped that some day my father would accept him into our family. Yet deep down I knew that would be a long wait.

"But this is the day, the big day. And I gotta admit I always knew it would happen sooner or later."

I laughed. "I expected you and McGee to tie the knot before us two."

Abby seemed to engage in deep thinking for a few seconds then she forced a smile. I sensed confusion yet a mixture of various emotions as she tried to look happy.

"I don't know about that", she said calmly, "but enough about us!" and she took my arm and spun me around to face her, "it's time to walk down that aisle and say yes to one of the most amazing guys I have ever known on this planet!"

"Of course he is", I said taking up my bouquet of roses and lilies Abby had specially gotten for me. Over a twelve year span, it was such an amazing transformation in relation to our friendship. We had grown from enemies to friends then best friends then sisters. Without Abby, I could feel deeply lost, without her advice: confused.

"I wish my mother was here", I said sadly, "she always wanted to live to see this day."

Abby frowned. "But she is here, trust me she is. She's watching and smiling and wishing you all the best."

It lightened my mood when I thought of it that way, how my mother would joke about how I had my hair or how she would begin to fuss about my dress. And the way she always loved to pinch my cheeks to generate some kind of colour in them as well as frequently embarrass me with an abundance of kisses. I missed even her insults and damper moods.

Now all I had left was her memories and a special knife she had given me when I was just seven years old to 'protect' myself from the evil ones. Even there as I was, I could feel the bulge of the knife pressing against my upper thigh and I felt a bit secured.

"Psst!"

My eyes moved to the door and met McGee's eyes.

"They're ready." He glanced at Abby then his eyes quickly diverted to mine. "You look beautiful, Ziva."

I smiled. "Thank you, McGee!"

"Although I must say I seldom ever saw you in dresses. This might be the second time in years."

I was never a dress type.

Laughing, I observed Abby's stolid expression as she deliberately busied herself fixing my bouquet to avoid McGee's eyes. Whatever had happened between the two of them would be resolved in less than a day. That's how close they were.

"So here I go." I grabbed a handful each of my dress at the sides then stepped forward.

"Here you go", McGee said smiling. "DiNozzo's waiting."

"His eye balls might fall out when he casts his eyes on you", Abby added.

Xx

And the church was elaborately decorated to suit both myself and Tony's taste in favourite colours. There were blue flowers and streamers running side by side with sea green beads. I enjoyed the quiet yet celebrative feeling of the church, and my eyes moved to register quite a few rows already filled up with friends and…

Mr. DiNozzo Senior stood up as I appeared at the back, his eyes gleaming.

"My Ziva!" he exclaimed smiling as wide as a Cheshire cat. "Look at you!"

Taking me into his arms, he kissed me warmly on either cheek and then held me there. I had to admit that for a short while I had known him, he was even much warmer than my biological father.

But where was Gibbs?

My mood saddened as I remembered myself prepping up to ask him to walk me down the aisle. But after I had told my father, he had agreed to take up his position to do that act. Even I was astonished. As my eyes met my father's he nodded as if this was all a business meeting and then took my arm. I forced a smile, even as Abby hugged me, feeling the tears build up behind my eyelids. The very thought of him dealing with this big event of mine as some casual yet quick event was hurtful to me. Yet I should not have expected any different.

"My flight leaves in two hours", he said in a clipped tone. I chose to ignore him.

Anyway, all the sadness, the pain, the distraught memories faded away when I saw Tony standing there in his suit and tie. He had his usual playful expression upon his face, his eyes mischievous and lips twitching into a smile. I felt so overwhelmed with joy that it was difficult to control the rate of my heartbeat as I stepped up to him. Even I didn't notice Gibbs sitting in the front row, his eyes on me as I walked past him.

He was there as I said my vows and Tony lifted up my veil decorated with small red flowers. Gibbs was even there standing outside the church and when I smiled at him; he came over to congratulate me.

"Ziva, congratulations", he said and he hugged me. I smiled when I smelt his Old Spice and that familiar hint of Palmolive soap. "You look beautiful."

"Thank you, Gibbs", I said blushing. It was amazing, this feeling I got, that even though we all knew Rule 12 existed, and somehow he had relaxed on the issue of Tony and me dating each other. I guess that now that rule would be scratched out clean. "You look charming as well."

He smiled. "Thank you."

And then I was separated from him, entangled in hugs and the smell of perfume as Abby, and my other friends engulfed me in smiles and laughter. Borin was there as well. She took special heed to warn me of DiNozzo's eternal charm, and that I should put a leash on him to keep him under control.

At the reception, McGee mended things with Abby in just three minutes. As Tony and I took our first dance, I pulled her up whilst McGee was snatched by DiNozzo. And we pushed them together, laughing. At first McGee's cheeks turned a bright shade of pink whilst Abby avoided eye contact with him.

"Come on", Tony said smiling, "dance with her, show us some geek loving."

"Shut up, Tony", Abby said glaring at him.

My feet were aching after trying to waltz in my high heels and avoid stepping on Tony's clumsy feet. So I excused myself and went to sit down next to Palmer and Breenah as they continued to discuss the decorations in the hall.

"The red goes well with the blue, as so does the green."

Breenah smiled at Palmer. "I hate green."

"Perhaps it was chosen because it is Tony's favorite colour", and he turned to me, "right, your most pretty highness?"

"Indeed." And I adjusted my veil smiling, "DiNozzo loves blue and sea green."

Breenah frowned. "I imagined him to be more of a baby blue fan, since he's such a boy still."

I laughed. "True."

And I sat awhile with them, laughing and talking about Palmer's ridiculous manners and Breenah's sweet love for children. When McGee and Abby joined us, we sat there quite along while just catching up, and savoring the feeling of coming together as a family. It was amazing how close I felt to them, although we are so unlike each other.

Where were Tony and Gibbs? Ducky? I caught a glimpse of Ducky taking a lovely woman with high cheekbones unto the outside balcony, sneaking glances behind him as he went. I smiled. As I turned my head to search the room for Tony, my eyes pinpointed him standing beside Gibbs to the far right of the room by an open window. But they weren't simply enjoying the view from twelve stories above.

As Gibbs said something to Tony with a stolid expression on his face, the latter appeared distressed and made an attempt to stride off with purpose. But Gibbs snatched his arm and pulled him back. They seemed to be arguing about something.

"Ziva…"

McGee made me turn away to face him, my expression blank.

"Sorry to break your thought but what kind of cake did you agree on?"

I took a while before I answered, my eyes flicking towards the window then back to him. "Dark chocolate, vanilla and lemon."

"Three tiers, all different", Abby confirmed. "For my wedding, I want fruit cake to share out to the guests, but for me, I'd love to have dark chocolate fudge to sit down and enjoy."

"McGee", Palmer said laughing, "take note, get a pencil and notepad!"

"Oh shut it", Abby said crossed, "anyway, it's all planned. I'll have a glass fountain, with blue water, and lemon drops –"

"Lemon drops?" I asked.

"Yes, lemon drops. And…"

Looking back towards the window about five minutes after, neither of them was in sight. I just brushed it off as maybe a small issue and continued to enjoy myself.

And an hour later, we were all dancing to the max. With my arm around McGee and Palmer's necks, I tried to kick my feet up to the beat of the music whilst we laughed and joked about how high our feet could go. I was so surprised at how many people were on the dance floor that my mood was as happy as ever for such a long time.

"Where's Tony?" Abby whispered into my ear. And we looked around through the sea of faces. There wasn't a sign of any one of them.

"Have no idea", I shouted back.

"Anyway", she shouted back, "I'm going to use the washroom."

I took hold of her hand. "I need to as well. Let's go." And we both held unto each other and squeezed our way through the crowd.

After hugging and greeting several persons, we finally made it to the washroom and Abby helped me tuck my dress up so that it wouldn't drag on the moist tiled floor. I wanted to keep the dress for a long time, and not to have it stained, so necessary precaution was taken.

Xx

The washroom became crowded with too many women so I left there after alerting Ziva to wait outside. And whilst I was there, standing and waiting, I fumbled in my purse to grab my gloss to apply to my lips. But you see, the thing is, my mind behaves so weird all the time. Before I knew it, I forgot that I was to apply the gloss and ended up wandering like Nancy Drew to the men's washroom just near the women's.

Standing in front of the mirror, I turned the tube and began to rub it unto my bottom lip. A moan from behind me made my hand freeze in midair. And I turned around, surveying the room. The stalls were all lined up, yet I didn't know anyone occupied any. Even if a man happened to walk out and saw me there, I'd point out that the women's washroom was full and I came over here to use the mirror.

I backed up and followed the sound of hasty sighs and moans, a shoe heel grazed against tile. And found myself peeking around the far end corner of the washroom. What I saw made my mouth turn suddenly dry, my breathing ceased up and my fingers immediately became numb. Of course on any other occasion before this one, I would have understood or tried to understand with a clear heart and mind. But this was outrageously crazy, like wild crazy.

The two of them were intimately close to each other. And as I stood there peeking at them, DiNozzo slowly backed Gibbs up against the wall and did the kinkiest thing I could have ever imagined him doing, especially to Gibbs. He tilted Gibbs' head sideways and reached across to kiss his neck, his fingers digging into the bossman's neck as his other hand found its way into Gibbs' pants.

And as if that wasn't enough, I got an eyeful when Gibbs, after grabbing fistfuls of DiNozzo's hair, he pulled him forward and their lips met. I must confess that I enjoyed the scene for a moment, for I had always imagined what it would be like to have the two of them go wild on each other. It was a funny fetish of mine. And yet, now it was all wrong, considering the situation with the wedding. Gibbs kissed him back passionately, and slow, their bodies rubbing against each other, their hands seeking out bare skin.

Backing away, I slowly tiptoed away and just stood there pondering on what I had just witnessed. Now I finally realized what position I was forced into. I was faced with the big task of either telling Ziva what I had just witnessed or walking away and never speaking about it again, someday most definitely feeling guilty when she found out.

Oh dear…

The door knob turned and in came Ziva looking flustered. Shushing her, I tried to take her arm to pull her out but she didn't stop. Pulling her arm away, she strode forward and to the end of the room, her eyes gleaming with anger. And in came Palmer through the door along with McGee in tow.

"What.." I began to ask yet I knew that one of them had told her something about the scene taking place.

"How dare you!" Ziva shouted. I could only see her figure from here, not the other two. "How dare you two do this to me? Is this a joke?"

"McGee?" I turned to him.

"Palmer did it. He told her", he said quickly.

"Hey!" Palmer protested. "You said some too!"

"No, no, she asked where they were and I told her. You placed the idea in her head jokingly about the two of them being in here grabbing at each other."

"It was just a joke!"

"It isn't", I said straightly.

They both turned to gape at me.

"What?"

"Huh?"

I sighed and rubbed Palmer's shoulder. "You'd make a great investigator." And I walked out of there.

[Finished]


End file.
